Posts Tagged ‘2007’

On Sunday 11 November, four AREN stations participated in the IARU Region 1 Emcomm Party on the air. This was the third simulated emergency test of its kind.

Operators were, Conor EI4JN, Tim EI5GPB, John EI7IG and, Declan Ei9FVB, using call-signs EI0RENE, EI1RENE, EI2RENE and EI3RENE respectively.
Conor operated from a hilltop site at coast location in South West Kerry, Tim from his home station in Baltimore, John from his home in Tramore and Declan from his home in Cork.

Messages we relayed throughout the Region and beyond using all the Centre of activity frequencies, except for 15 metres, which was not open on the day.
A more detailed report will be published in Echo Ireland and on the AREN website.

The AREN Winter NETS will reconvene on the first and third Wednesday of each month for training purposes on 3.690Khz, with an alternative frequency of 7.099kHz at 2130Hrs local beginning 21st November. This is a members only net. Non members may call in with reports at the end of the net when invited to do so by the Net Control Station. Full details will be circulated to members in due course.

The AREN stand at the recent Waterford rally was well received. The Demonstration included APRS and Pactor 3. One of the stations set up for the day was used to call into the IRTS 80m news.
AREN will also be represented at the upcoming Mayo Rally.

AREN members Declan Horan, EI9FVB and Conor O Neill, EI4JN supported a walk in aid of the Irish Heart Foundation on Saturday the 29th of September last. The walk in the McGillicuddy Reeks was led by Conor who radio’d regular reports to Declan through the Cork repeater.

Declan operated from his home QTH in Ballincollig Co. Cork. The walkers encountered thick fog on the ascent which later cleared, giving way to clear skies and spectacular views.

There are usually items of interest in there to keep the Emergency Communicator thinking. It is open to all Emergency communicators worldwide irrespective of any affiliation to national Emcomm organisations.

On the 1st of July last, the National road racing championships took place in Waterford city and the event was hosted by Comeragh Cycling Club. The 13.3-mile course took in some of the busiest junctions and roundabouts in the city, a huge entry saw over 120 riders entered for the senior race and 30 for the junior.
The senior race took in eight laps and the juniors five, Local operators (all AREN members) who had been involved in a similar type race last year were again asked to get involved in the traffic management side of things and readily agreed. AREN were then consulted and a course of action agreed.

First and foremost a site needed to be found for the AREN repeater that would provide radio coverage over the entire course and a site was subsequently found and tests proved satisfactory.

Following this, a decision was taken to use signs at all junctions and roundabouts which meant that mobile operators not familiar with the course could identify their precise location and also ensured that net control could pinpoint any segment of the race at any time as this was vital for traffic management.
Also a very simple radio protocol was adopted for the day, which ensured that all communications were kept short, and to the point with 14 operators involved on the day this was vital.

Race day saw all operators meet at race HQ at the W.I.T campus, firstly five mobiles were fitted with radios and antennas, mobile operators were Richie – EI9HR, John – EI7IG, EI7JS, Robbie – EI8FZB and Nicky – EI3JB. John, EI8JA then departed for the repeater site to set up the repeater aided by SWL David Gainda. John – EI2GN departed for the start/finish line to act as net controller while Conor – EI4JN was deployed as motorcycle mobile which enabled him to be deployed quickly anywhere on the course that he was needed.

Mick – EI3IQ, Gareth – EI7FZB, John – EI8FRB, Aidan – EI2CTB and SWL David went to their positions at various round-abouts and junctions. The senior race started promptly at noon followed ten minutes later by the juniors. Both races were accompanied by service cars also present on the course were officials of the cycling federations, Gardai, Ambulance service and Civil Defence.

Radio communications for the duration of the race was intense as the senior race was over in just more than four hours. Richie – EI9HR would like to thank all who helped out on the day also a big thank you to Neil – EI3JE for the loan of the equipment.

Galtee Walking Festival
There are just 4 weeks to go to the 2 days of activity in the Galtees Walking Festival on the Saturday and Sunday of the June Bank Holiday weekend. John Ronan EI7IG is event Coordinator and he is being assisted by John EI2JB and other members of the Tipperary Amateur Radio Group.
Preparations are at an advanced stage but there are still radio positions to be filled on Saturday and on Sunday. Newcomers are welcome and training will be provided each morning. Please contact John EI7IG on 086 8167310 or John EI2JB at QTHR

Ladies Mini Marathon
The 2007 Flora Ladies Mini Marathon takes place on Bank Holiday Monday, 4th June at 3.00pm. It starts from Fitzwilliam Square, and finishes in Stephens Green Dublin 2. Sadly this year’s event will happen without the familiar voice of Donnchadh O’ Shea who traditionally operated the net control station.
This year’s public service event will be dedicated to his memory. The co-ordinator for the event again this year will be George Adjaye who may be contacted by phone on 086 2586103 or Fax 01 4908546 or email george.adjayeg at dcu.ie

Comeragh Cycle race
There are just 8 weeks to go to the Bike race in Waterford in the 1st July. Richie EI9HR is event Co-ordinator and he is being assisted by John EI8JA. This year?s race, though run over essentially the same route as last year will be on a greater scale with over 160 riders taking part. The Civil Defence have come on board this year to help with marshalling and RTE will be filming the event.
AREN will provide the communications for safe traffic management and accident reporting. There will be more radio reporting points and mobile stations than last year so more radio operators are required. Again newcomers are welcome and training will be provided on the morning of the race. Please contact Richie on mobile 085-1465465 or evenings on 051-854315

IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-stations of its member societies and stations of special emergency communication groups to participate in the “Second EmCom party on the Air” on Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 11.00 – 15.00 UTC. The operation will take place on and near the emergency Center-of-Activity (CoA) frequencies on 40, 20 and 15 meters (+/-QRM).
The CoA frequencies on 80 and 17 meters will not be used during this event.

The objective of the party is to increase the common interest among member societies in emergency communication, test how usable the CoA frequencies are across Region 1, and create practices for international emergency communication between Region 1 member societies and special emergency communication groups.

Please keep in mind: This is not a contest – it is an emergency communications exercise!

The protocol is as follows:
1) All traffic during the party will take place in SSB only.
2) IARU Region 1 HQ station will be OF3F in Finland.
3) It will be QRV simultaneously on the three CoA frequencies: 7060, 14300 and 21360 kHz +/- QRM.

During first three hours each participating station will try to contact OF3F and also as many other national HQ and special group stations as possible. During the last hour, (14.00 – 15.00 UTC) these stations will contact only OF3F for reporting. The report should be sent only once, on the band on which communication with OH3F is best. All traffic in the party will happen on SSB.

Participating stations are calling:
“This is HQ station of (RSGB, REF etc.) calling Region 1 EmCom stations for testing” (Please announce time to time “this is an exercise”).

The messages to be exchanged during the first three hours consist of eight numbers and the abbreviation of the national society/special group – in other words:
real RS report, number of bands simultaneously in use (1, 2 or 3), and number of operators at this station (in 2 digits, i.e. 3 operators is transmitted as “03”), the transmitter power (in 3 digits, i.e. 50 Watt would be 050) and the acronym of the society/group (RSGB, REF…). We will use the word “slash” to separate details in these messages:

Example:

4U1ITU could give to OF3F the following information: 58/3/03/500/IARC

RS = 58 (please give accurate reports, not just “59”!).
3 = number of bands simultaneously in use at 4U1ITU.
03 = there are 3 operators at 4U1ITU.
500 = 4U1ITU runs 500 W.
IARC = International Amateur Radio Club of ITU HQS

The message to IARU Region 1 HQ station OF3F during the last hour will be following:
RS / total number of stations of Region 1 societies or groups contacted during the party / numbers of stations contacted on 7, 14 and 21 MHz.

All messages consist of five groups: RS is the group number 1, this group number one is separated by / (`slash’) from group number 2 and so on. If you have not received any of the groups properly, you ask: “Please repeat group number #”.

HQ-station OF3F is not giving messages – only receiving and confirming them. To avoid QRMing the HQ-station, please move to frequencies near the CoA for contacts with other stations.

For creating a more realistic situation, please limit your transmitting power during the exercise to 100 watts. A special value is given to stations operating mobile/portable and/or on emergency power.

Greg Mossop G0DUB has kindly agreed to collect all information and to prepare a final report. Please send your comments and logs to Greg at: gregm(at)greg-mossop.co.uk. The final report will be published in August 2007.

We hope that even more stations than in November 2006 will participate in this second EmCom Party on the Air. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any additional information.

A third EmCom Party is planned for 17 November, 2008, with new rules and procedures.

Work began on Friday with the Setup of 2 VHF voice repeaters, one east and one west of Clonakilty.

78 radios in all were handed out to officials and marshalls. For the two days of competition John, Conor and Conor’s wife Nollaig drove the entire rally route ahead of the competing cars, stopping at each radio point to ensure that all stations were radio-checked successfully.

Any faulty radio equipment or installations found were dealt with. Even when the timing equipment at the start of one Special Stage got blown down and was rendered inoperable, John and Conor were able to use their technical skills and tool kit to get it back into operation.

Cork Motor Club thanked AREN for its support again this year and acknowledged ARENs contribution with a mention in the Official Rally Program.